


Third Degree

by Hammocker



Series: I Saw You [2]
Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Breaking and Entering, Home Invasion, M/M, Tags Are Hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-17
Updated: 2015-10-17
Packaged: 2018-04-26 18:21:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5015260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hammocker/pseuds/Hammocker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Edward's life was taking a turn towards the complicated.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Third Degree

**Author's Note:**

> This isn't peer reviewed and I feel like it really needs it, but I dunno.

Edward shut his door more hastily than usual, bolting the deadlock like his life depended on it. It very well could, actually. If anyone found out what he had done, if someone came looking for him, beating his door, what would-

Taking a deep breath, Edward let his shoulders relax. He was okay. He was alone now, finally rid of the day's frustrations, his constant neglect, and a corpse. It had been a very messy ten or so hours in the morgue, but that was behind him now and forever. Best to take his mind off of it. Maybe watch a film or play some-

“Why did you kill that man?”

Edward jumped, whirling around to find a bald man wearing only a pair of black sweatpants. Victor Zsasz. Memories from the day that the assassin had tried to kill Jim flooded back with a shot of adrenaline to go with them.

“How- how do you- how did you-?”

“I was watching. I saw you cut the body into pieces. I saw you drag it into the GCPD, but I couldn't follow there. Made it hard to judge your intentions.”

“Why?!”

“That's my question,” Victor said, brow furrowing.

“How did you get in?!”

“Your bedroom window wasn’t locked,” Victor said, a sour note creeping into his tone. “I don't see how that matters.”

“You're an assassin who's broken into my home, that is extremely relevant!”

“I don’t see how,” Victor repeated.

“Aren't you here to kill me?”

“I'm talking to you, not killing you,” Victor said, a hint of offense in his voice. “If I'd wanted to kill you, you'd have been dead more than a week ago. I'm very efficient.”

“You- you saw me?”

Victor's eye twitched. “Yes, I told you that.”

Edward shook his head, scratching hard at his scalp as his mind worked to process that someone knew. What if others had seen? How long would it be until the police knew? Had he overlooked incriminating evidence?

“How could you have-?” Edward stuttered, vocal functions compromised by sheer mental overload. “Why would you have-? That wasn't-”

Without any warning, Zsasz lunged forward and shoved him back into the door, pinning him in place. One of his hands held Edward’s chest, the other went to restrain his right arm. Zsasz was sinewy, Edward could tell that much the first time he saw the assassin, but he hadn’t realized exactly how much weight Zsasz commanded. Edward could barely move at all and Zsasz didn’t seem to be making all that much effort. This moment was where he died, he just knew it. Edward’s knees were wobbling and he had no handle on his breathing at all. He covered his face with his free arm. He didn’t want to see what was about to happen. But even after a few moments, Zsasz was still only keeping him in place.

“What's your name?” Zsasz asked.

He couldn’t see Zsasz’s face, but Edward felt him breathing steadily against his cheek. Just barely, he caught a hint of citrus. Or berries maybe. Something sweet, but faint.

“Edward Nygma,” he answered in one breath.

“You look like an Edward.”

Edward dared to glance up at Zsasz, just a peek. He first saw just a mouth, ajar and just a bit to the left his own face, but his gaze promptly traveled upward to find Zsasz’s eyes. Zsasz, in turn, met his stare. His expression was subtle, but Edward recognized one quality right away: curiosity. Zsasz had a lot going on in his head, perhaps even as much as he did. He was primal, perhaps, and certainly very different than himself, but Victor was displaying want for understanding. It was a strange thing. Almost like he was locking eyes with a completely unknown yet equally intelligent life form.

“Well, you- you look like a Victor, in any situation.”

A smile twitched at the edge of Zsasz's mouth. “I am.”

“You promise you won’t hurt me?”

“Cross my heart.”

“Hope to die?”

“No need to be morbid.”

Edward couldn't help but snicker. He wasn’t sure if Zsasz was serious or not, but he had the makings of a sense of humor at least.

“Alright. Could you let me go so we can talk properly?”

Zsasz’s smile turned easy. “I hoped you'd calm down.”

The weight eased off of him and Zsasz backed away.

“Right,” Edward said, making an effort to breathe deep. “Do you mind if I- sit?”

Zsasz blinked with incredulity. “It's your home.”

It didn't feel much like it was anymore. Nonetheless Edward headed for the easy chair that sat at an angle near his television. All the while, he was keenly aware of Victor's eyes tracking him across the room.

“So, you just want to know why I killed him?”

“Yes,” Zsasz said, his tone firm.

“There's not exactly a simple answer to that.”

“I have time.”

“You and me both.” Edward bit his lip as he considered how to explain what had happened. “Well. There's this woman and we're friends. Kind of. But this guy was dating her and he was a real jerk-”

“You were killing your competition,” Victor said, as though he'd just unraveled one of Edward's more complicated riddles.

“No!” Edward cried. “No, of course not, he was- he was beating on her. I had to do something. I only wanted to threaten him, make him leave her alone, I never wanted to kill him.”

“You used a knife.”

“I had to be able to defend myself if he assaulted me; he was a complete brute!” His justifications were sounding more like excuses now that he was saying them out loud. “But I didn't want to kill him.”

“Why not?”

“You can't just kill people. It's wrong and unethical and uncalled for more often than not.”

“It's often called for in my experience.”

“You kill people for a living, I'd think it would be called for.”

“I don’t kill because I’m paid, I’m paid because I’m good at killing. I'd kill no matter what.”

“But- why?”

“Some people deserve it. Some people are inconvenient. Some people are suffering. Some are just weak.” As he spoke, Zsasz padded toward Edward. “Some people kill, some people are killed. Nature separates the cats from the mice.”

Edward was most certainly talking to an alien intelligence. A very twisted alien intelligence.

“That’s- a way to look at things.”

“I assumed you were a mouse when I first saw you, but I don't think so now.”

“You think I’m a cat?”

“No. A kitten.”

“A- kitten?”

“Yes. But not a fuzz scrap, a kitten who’s just caught his first mouse.”

“Maybe it’s better he only catch one.”

“But why would any cat want to stop at one?”

“It decided to become a vegetarian?” Edward suggested, shrugging.

Any humor seemed lost on Zsasz. “It’s not a bad thing to have killer instincts.”

“That’s not what most people would say.”

“Why would a mouse want a cat to be a cat?”

“Is that a trick question?”

“Yes,” Zsasz said flatly. “You can raise a cat to think it’s a mouse, but nothing can quell a hunter’s instinct.”

“I wasn’t hunting,” Edward said, though, he was less convinced that that was the case. “I never wanted to kill him.”

“But you did.” Zsasz knelt down to look Edward in the face. “How did it feel? Putting a knife in him?”

Edward gave a long blink. That wasn’t something he had considered very often in the past few days. He had felt a lot of things while killing Dougherty. Terror, anger, elation, but one thing stood out. “It felt- like I should have done it a long time ago.”

“You felt good?”

“Yes. It felt right.” Edward thought he might vomit. “Very, very right.”

“You're a killer,” Zsasz breathed, reaching out to touch Edward’s face. “I never would have guessed.”

Zsasz fixed him with a gaze like none Edward had ever seen before. It was something like admiration. Like Edward was the most immaculate thing he had ever seen. It invigorated him as much as it made him even more nauseous. The odd scars on Zsasz’s arm weren’t helping much either.

“I don’t know,” Edward said, pulling away from Zsasz’s hand. “I don’t know if I want to be.”

“Why deny your nature?” Zsasz asked, frowning.

“Because some of us would rather not be psychopaths!”

“You don’t need to be a psychopath to kill.”

“I just- I don’t know, I really don’t have anything together right now and you breaking and entering isn’t making anything any more clear.”

“Do you want me to leave?”

“If you don’t mind.”

“I don’t mind,” Zsasz said, standing back to his full height. “Do you not want me to come back?”

“No,” Edward said, tilting his head up to look Zsasz in the eye. “I don’t not want you back here sometime soon-ish.”

Zsasz gave him a sideways glance before grinning down at him. “I can manage that.”

Edward stared back down at the floor as Zsasz trudged out of the room. He could hear the floorboards creak softly for a time followed by a light thud and then Zsasz was gone. Edward was, at last, all alone with his thoughts.

Was he a killer by nature? Did he want to be? Did his wants even matter? Edward’s gaze slowly turned to the ceiling. A laugh escaped his throat, just a breathy laugh of relief. Maybe he was a killer, maybe he wasn’t, but being one could make all the difference. All the times he’d let himself be ignored, stepped on, treated like a doormat; he had the power to change all of that right in front of his face. He wasn’t sure how yet, but Edward was nothing if not a fast learner and a long-term planner. If Zsasz of all people thought he was a cat, then he would learn how to be a cat.

**Author's Note:**

> Critique would be greatly appreciated. Per usual, I have no idea if this is good or the worst thing ever and it could be missing chunks because sometimes I forget to write them so help is very welcome.
> 
> On top of that, I'm not really sure where to go from here. I haven't thought about much of a proper plot. And for that matter, I need to get around to watching season two. And finishing other things. Hard stuff, man.


End file.
